Modena Theme for JavaFX

In 2013 we decided to design a new theme for JavaFX to replace Caspian, to be shipped as part of Java 8. There were 2 main motivators for a new theme: keeping up with UI fashion and setting a standard of expectations that each new major release would come with a new default theme.

The design basis for Modena was to make it still gradient based to fit in with the widest range of OSes at the time. But make the gradients and base color as subtle as possible. The other design center was attention to detail. We spent 100s maybe 1000s of hours perfecting every pixel.